The Cinema Corner – August 25th

Movie of the week – Terminator 2: Judgment Day 3D

A classic of the action genre, James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day has been restored under the director’s supervision and plays in cinemas on Tuesday for one day only. Unfortunately it’s in 3D, but it’s well worth revisiting this on the big screen, and given recent world events, its theme of nuclear annihilation is arguably more resonant today than on its 1991 release. The CG effects hold up remarkably well too.

The Wizard of Oz

A couple of family favourites return to the Lighthouse this week. You can catch screenings of The Wizard of Oz on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, while Mary Poppins plays Monday. They don’t make ’em like these two anymore.

Detroit

The highlight of the week’s new releases is Detroit, director Kathryn Bigelow’s rendering of an incident that took place in the titular city in 1967 in which a group of black men were murdered and terrorised by cops in search of what they believed was a sniper. It’s far from a sensitive examination of race in America, and will likely offend some viewers, but in the hands of Bigelow it’s an undeniably visceral experience, if let down by a plodding final half hour.

American Made

Tom Cruise delivers his best performance in years in American Made, the true story of Barry Seal, a TWA pilot who found himself working for both a Colombian drug cartel and the CIA. There’s not much here you won’t have seen before in other true life crime dramas, but Cruise’s energetic turn will keep you riveted to the screen.

Logan Lucky

Logan Lucky marks the return of director Steven Soderbergh after a very brief ‘retirement’ (his last movie was as recent as 2013). An all-star heist movie set in West Virginia, this is poorly scripted and packed with lazy and offensive Southern stereotypes. Maybe Soderbergh should taken a longer break.